You know what, clov?
You and I should meet over a couple of dry martinies one day.
Speaking of which..
I loathe Marc Almond's flamboyant gay cabaret style of singing and music. It epitomizes bad taste as far as I'm concerned. But when he collaborates with people from 'England's Hidden Reverse' it's another matter. 'Feasting with Panther's' - his upcoming album with Michael Cashmore, should be well worth looking out for. With interpretations of poems by Count Eric Stenbock, Jean Genet, Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine & Jeremy Reed it promises to be quite a literary feast as well. Out on Cherry Red records in three weeks.

You know what, clov?
You and I should meet over a couple of dry martinies one day.

That would be most welcome. Preferably someplace in a foreign town in a foreign land - maybe in bar Maldoror itself. A glass of fine german wine also would be appreciated - so we could drift through memories of greater times, when all were friends and at their best, and not moaning about some baalstorm things.

'Feasting with Panther's' - his upcoming album with Michael Cashmore, should be well worth looking out for. With interpretations of poems by Count Eric Stenbock, Jean Genet, Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine & Jeremy Reed it promises to be quite a literary feast as well. Out on Cherry Red records in three weeks.

You know what, clov?
You and I should meet over a couple of dry martinies one day.

That would be most welcome. Preferably someplace in a foreign town in a foreign land - maybe in bar Maldoror itself. A glass of fine german wine also would be appreciated - so we could drift through memories of greater times, when all were friends and at their best, and not moaning about some baalstorm things.

You know what, clov?
You and I should meet over a couple of dry martinies one day.

That would be most welcome. Preferably someplace in a foreign town in a foreign land - maybe in bar Maldoror itself. A glass of fine german wine also would be appreciated - so we could drift through memories of greater times, when all were friends and at their best, and not moaning about some baalstorm things.

You know what, clov?
You and I should meet over a couple of dry martinies one day.

That would be most welcome. Preferably someplace in a foreign town in a foreign land - maybe in bar Maldoror itself. A glass of fine german wine also would be appreciated - so we could drift through memories of greater times, when all were friends and at their best, and not moaning about some baalstorm things.

A load of bullsh*t too; just sayin'. And certainly happy with throwing around labels like "nazi" and "fascist" around without bothering to back them up by too many facts, other than what seems to be endlessly recirculated on the usual websites. None of the facts countering the alleged evidence are mentioned; no mention of the fact that Wakeford's wife is Jewish; no mention of the ambiguity surrounding Rice; no mention that David E. Williams' song is severely over the top, and seems more like a caricature of a right wing nutcase (and his lyrics are certainly more in the American tradition of John Waters and the like); no mention of the fact that Herr Schwanke is a left wing-activist and has been for 25 years.

Hearsay and half-baked truths, as usual. I find a lot of the aesthetics of the scene pretty laughable and unfortunate, but I have no reason to believe that very many means anything political by it.

But then again, I think the overload of nazi fetishism in the endless historical documentaries on television is potentially a bigger problem.

Even if the neo folk/martial/power electronics scenes were fascist or nazis (which it by and large isn't), I doubt it has converted a single person to a fascist cause. I've been following it since I was 13 or 14 (while I mist admit that growing older has somewhat shewn some light on the fact that a lot of the scene is intensely boring and cheesy), and I've never voted anything to the right of a democratic socialist party. I even know a lot of the musicians personally, and, interestingly, they seem fairly libertarian in their values. Overall, the political spectrum of the parts of the scene I know personally seems to be mostly in the political middle, with very few political extremists to either side. It's a typical example of judging people on their clothing, but, well.

I wonder when they will go for the horror scene: Aickman was a conservative, and liked Leni Riefenstahl's works; Russell Kirk was a conservative; someone on the internet has once wrote (true story) that he thinks Ligotti might be misogynist (remember: no facts!); Machen was a conservative (and what about the little people - a racist caricature, of course!. Probably a nazi, too); Stephen King thinks horror fiction is essentially conservative; Lovecraft, etc., etc. Therefore, everyone reading or writing or publishing horror are, of course, right wing extremists.

The case for prosecuting the entire neofolk scene is pretty weak, but there is no denying that some bands have done their best to rouse suspicion. When your logo is an SS-style Totenkopf, you can hardly be surprised that people start asking questions. If similar misunderstandings happen again and again, then maybe there is a lesson or two to be learned about proper communication.

I should add that even if the genre itself turned out to be fascist to the core, I would probably still listen to it. Nobody is perfect, not even Douglas P. (who could do with some lessons (specifically, guitar lessons)).

The case for prosecuting the entire neofolk scene is pretty weak, but there is no denying that some bands have done their best to rouse suspicion. When your logo is an SS-style Totenkopf, you can hardly be surprised that people start asking questions. If similar misunderstandings happen again and again, then maybe there is a lesson or two to be learned about proper communication.

No doubt about that; when you're playing with fire, you might get burnt. And justly so.

It's not the asking of questions - it's more the lack of willingness to aknowledge that aesthetics does not necessarily influence one's political views.

What irritates me is most of all that a lot of the criticism is generated by hearsay without any smoking gun. For instance, one hears constantly that some member No Remorse played with Wakeford, but I have never seen any proof of that - it's just a rumour that's been recirculated over and over again.

And I also believe that the left wing should focus more on the actual politicians in power, instead of a musical phenomenon which has a few thousand followers, and is unlikely to have ever influenced anyone politically.